Motion platform having wire-shaped body winding mechanism

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism, where the wire-shaped body winding mechanism is combined on one side of the motion platform to wind related pipelines, which prevents problems in operating security caused by dropping of overlong pipelines, makes the peripheral environment of the motion platform neat, and causes no vibration or noise pollution.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a motion platform technology, and more particularly to a motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism.

2. Description of the Related Art

Regarding general automated mechanical devices such as a motion platform, repeated movement may cause damages to cables under automatic operation of a set stroke, and therefore, to protect the cables, an elastic sleeve pipe having desired strength and a protecting chain can be used to protect the cables in the prior art. The elastic sleeve pipe is relatively weak in telescopic and bending deformation capabilities, and is limited in application. The chain structure of the protecting chain allows diversified changes in shape, and thus the protecting chain is widely applied to protect cables in the technical field of motion platforms.

However, when the conventional protecting chain is deformed, the volume of sound produced when the chain links move relative to each other and contact the mechanical surface are usually very loud, and meanwhile the weight of the chain may easily cause undesired vibration during movement. Therefore, in addition to the noises that affect the human health, the protecting chain is inapplicable in fields having high accuracy requirements because of the undesired vibration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention is mainly directed to provide a motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism, which can coil cables on the motion platform, protect the cables, make the peripheral environment of the motion platform neat, and cause no noise or vibration.

To achieve the above objective, the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism provided by the present invention has the main technical feature that a winding mechanism is combined on a motion platform to wind and accommodate a wire-shaped body having the desired length for movement of the platform and can wind or release the wire-shaped body with the displacement of the motion platform, so as to increase or reduce the length of the wire-shaped body extending out of the winding mechanism to conform to change of the position of the motion platform.

In the specific technical content, the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism includes a fixed seat, a movable seat, a winding mechanism and a wire-shaped body. The fixed seat is used as a base for disposing other constituting elements, and capable of defining a virtual reference point at a fixed position according to the spatial position of the fixed seat. The movable seat is movably combined on the fixed seat and capable of performing movement like rotation or reciprocating displacement in a uniaxial or multiaxial direction, and changes positions relative to the fixed seat during the movement. The winding mechanism is combined on the fixed seat and has a rotary member for winding the wire-shaped body. The wire-shaped body has its main part except for the two ends wound on the rotary member, and has one end connected to a connecting portion of the movable seat and the other end corresponding to the position of the reference point.

Therefore, when the movable seat moves relative to the fixed seat and changes the distance between the connecting portion and the reference point, the length of the wire-shaped body extending out of the winding mechanism changes with the coiling or release of the wire-shaped body by the winding mechanism, such that the extension length of the wire-shaped body is similar to the distance between the connecting portion and the reference point.

As for the technical means of combining the winding mechanism and the fixed seat, no matter the winding mechanism is fixedly combined on the fixed seat or movably combined on the fixed seat in a sliding manner, the efficacies of the winding mechanism in coiling the wire-shaped body and in simplifying the environment and avoiding noises and vibration for the entire motion platform are not affected.

Accordingly, any winding mechanism capable of winding the wire-shaped body so as to control the length of the wire-shaped body extending out of the winding mechanism to conform to change of the spatial position of the movable seat relative to the fixed seat is considered as a technical means for achieving the main objective of the present invention, and the specific technical content of the winding mechanism is not limited.

Therefore, examples made for better understanding the present invention shall not be regarded as limitations to the present invention. Accordingly, the structure of the winding mechanism includes a first central shaft and two second central shafts parallel to the first central shaft, and the wire-shaped body is wound on the periphery of each second central shaft in an interlaced manner.

Further, the rotary member has a first rotary body that takes the first central shaft as a geometric center and rotates about the first central shaft, and two second rotary bodies that respectively take the second central shafts as geometric centers and are separately arranged at an axial end of the first rotary body, where the wire-shaped body is wound on the second rotary bodies in an interlaced manner.

To enable the relative displacement between the wire-shaped body and the second rotary bodies, the second rotary bodies can be made to respectively rotate about the second central shafts, or the contact surfaces of the second rotary bodies and the wire-shaped body have low friction, such that the relative displacement between the wire-shaped body and the second rotary bodies in the winding process can be carried out smoothly without hindering.

Further, the virtual reference point is used for describing the distance between relative positions after change of the spatial positions caused by movement of the movable seat and does not physically exist. Therefore, no matter being located at the fixed seat or the winding mechanism, the virtual reference point can be used for describing change of the displacement of the movable seat as long as the position of the virtual reference point is fixed.

In addition, the wire-shaped body is not limited to a cable for signal transmission, and may also be a delivery pipeline for transferring other substances like electric power, light, water, gas or oil which falls in the scope of the wire-shaped body of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an assembly view of a motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of change of the length of a wire-shaped body with displacement of a movable seat in the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a winding mechanism in the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the winding mechanism in the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of winding operation of the winding mechanism in the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of releasing operation of the winding mechanism in the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of operation of the motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to the third preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

First, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, regarding a motion platform (10) having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism provided in a first embodiment of the present invention, for ease of description, only the technical content related to the main technical feature of the present invention is illustrated specifically, and other related subordinate arts apparent to persons of ordinary skills in the technical field of the present invention will not be described.

The structure of the motion platform (10) having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism includes a fixed seat (20), a movable seat (30), a winding mechanism (40) and a wire-shaped body (50).

The fixed seat (20) has a seat body (21) and two guide rails (22), where the seat body (21) is approximately a rectangular block, and the guide rails (22) are fixed in parallel on an upper seat surface of the seat body (21).

The movable seat (30) has a carrying table (31), a plurality of sliding blocks (32) and a connecting portion (33). The carrying table (31) is in the shape of a block. The sliding blocks (32) are slidably connected to the guide rails (22) respectively and are fixedly connected to the carrying table (31), such that the carrying table (31) can perform reciprocating displacement linearly by means of the sliding blocks (32) along the rail direction of the guide rails (22). The connecting portion (33) is located on one side of the carrying table (31), protrudes out of the seat body (21) and is used for electrical connection to an external conventional connector element.

The winding mechanism (40) is fixed on one side of the seat body (21) and is preferably located, relative to the seat body, at a position adjacent to the starting point of reciprocating displacement of the movable seat (30), and has a rotatable rotary member (41) on which the wire-shaped body is wound.

The wire-shaped body (50) in the present embodiment is a plurality of parallel wires (51) for transmitting electric signals and is wound on the rotary member (41) of the winding mechanism (40), where one end of each wire (51) is electrically connected to the connecting portion (33), and the other end of each wire (51) is located inside the winding mechanism (40) and is electrically connected to a conventional connector (60) fixed on the winding mechanism (40).

A fixed relative position relationship between the conventional connector (60) and the fixed seat (20) is indirectly established through the technical means of fixing, and therefore, a virtual reference point at the position of the conventional connector (60) is defined according to the fixed position state of the fixed seat (20).

Therefore, when the movable seat (30) performs reciprocating displacement on the guide rails (22), the relative positions between the connecting portion (33) and the conventional connector (60) are changed as shown in FIG. 3, and the winding mechanism (40) makes the length of the wire-shaped body (50) extending out of the winding mechanism (40) change synchronously to conform to the increase or decrease of the distance between the connecting portion (33) and the conventional connector (60), thereby achieving the purpose of the present invention.

Further, in the winding mechanism (40) of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 7, the rotary member (41) is used for forming a first central shaft and two second central shafts, such that elements are enabled to revolve about the first central shaft and meanwhile rotate about the second central shafts separately.

Specifically, the rotary member (41) has a first rotary body (411), where one end of the first rotary body (411) is column-shaped and the column shaft forms the first central shaft, and the other end of the first rotary body (411) is plate-shaped; and two second rotary bodies (412) that are column-shaped, where the second rotary bodies (412) are in parallel and are separately and indirectly arranged on the plate-shaped axial end of the first rotary body (411), the column shafts of the second rotary bodies (412) form the second central shafts respectively, the distance between each second rotary body (412) and the first rotary body (411) is equal, and the wire-shaped body (50) is wound between the second rotary bodies (412) in an interlaced manner.

Therefore, when the rotary member (41) rotates about the first central shaft for coiling as shown in FIG. 6, the wire-shaped body (50) is continuously wound between the second rotary bodies (412), thereby reducing the length of the wire-shaped body (50) extending out of the winding mechanism (40).

On the contrary, when the rotary member (41) rotates about the first central shaft for releasing as shown in FIG. 7, the wire-shaped body (50) is continuously pulled out from inside the winding mechanism (40), thereby increasing the extension length of the wire-shaped body (50).

To reduce the resistance resulting from the contact of the wire-shaped body (50) with each second rotary body (412) in the coiling or releasing process, the state of contact may be rolling connection or slidable connection with low friction. As for the technical means of rolling connection provided in the present embodiment, the rotary member (41) further includes two rotary sleeves (413) which are tubular and are respectively sleeved on the second rotary bodies (412) and are located between the surfaces of the sleeved second rotary bodies (412) and the wire-shaped body (50) in contact with the second rotary bodies (412), such that when the wire-shaped body (50) moves relative to the second rotary bodies (412), rolling can be carried out by means of the rotary sleeves (413), so as to reduce the resistance generated during movement of the wire-shaped body (50) and make the coiling or releasing operation smooth.

Further, to make the wire-shaped body (50) remain in the coiled state normally without the effect of an external force, the winding mechanism (40) further has an elastic member (42) such as a volute spring, where one end of the elastic member (42) is connected to the rotary member (41), and the other end of the elastic member (42) is fixedly connected to a housing (43) of the winding mechanism (40), so as to provide an elastic force enabling the rotary member (41) to rotate for coiling as shown in FIG. 6; and when the movable seat (30) performs displacement, the force exerted on the winding mechanism (40) through the wire-shaped body (50) is sufficient to carry out the releasing operation in FIG. 7 after compensating the elastic force from the elastic member (42).

Meanwhile, when the guiding direction provided by the guide rails (22) is located in the Z-axis direction the same as the gravity direction in three-dimensional movement directions, the motion platform (10) of the present invention adopts the winding mechanism (40) to accommodate and protect the wire-shaped body (50), which solves the problem of space limitation because the extension length of a cable exceeds the overall height of a machine as compared with the structure in the prior art where an elastic sleeve pipe is used to protect a cable.

According to the above description, the motion platform (10) having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism enables the extension length of a linear item to change with the position of the movable seat (30) by means of the winding mechanism (40), such that a proper number of columns of the pipeline are provided on the periphery of the motion platform and no undesired part is left, thereby realizing a neat environment, preventing the dropping pipeline from hindering the operation, and avoiding the noise or vibration produced in the prior art.

In addition to the above embodiment where the conventional connector (60) is combined to the winding mechanism (40), a conventional connector (60 a) may also be fixed on one end of a seat body (21 a) and independent of a winding mechanism (40 a) in a motion platform (10 a) having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 8. Such different setting technologies do not affect the efficacies of the present invention, and the conventional connector (60 a) may also be fixed at a proper spatial position according to actual requirements in use, thereby facilitating connection to external pipelines.

Further referring to a motion platform (10 b) having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention as show in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, a winding mechanism (40 b) is slidably disposed on a fixed seat (20 b) and is enabled to perform reciprocating displacement linearly in the same direction as a carrying table (31 b), and the two ends of a wire-shaped body (50 b) extend out of the winding mechanism (40 b) and can be coiled or pulled out synchronously and bidirectionally, thereby reducing the coiling or pull-out stroke of the wire-shaped body (50 b), reducing the distance between the wire-shaped body and the other constituting elements where friction exists, and realizing the protection efficacy. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism, comprising: a fixed seat, providing a virtual reference point at a fixed position; a movable seat, movably combined on the fixed seat and comprising a connecting portion, wherein the relative distance between the connecting portion and the reference point changes synchronously when the movable seat moves relative to the fixed seat; a winding mechanism, disposed on the fixed seat and comprising a rotary member; and a wire-shaped body, wound on the rotary member, and comprising one end connected to the connecting portion and the other end corresponding to the virtual reference point, whereby the length of the wire-shaped body extending out of the winding mechanism changes with the coiling or release of the wire-shaped body by the winding mechanism when the movable seat moves relative to the fixed seat and changes the distance between the connecting portion and the reference point.
 2. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the winding mechanism is fixedly disposed on the fixed seat.
 3. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the winding mechanism is movably disposed on the fixed seat.
 4. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the rotary member further comprises a first central shaft and two second central shafts, the two second central shafts are parallel to the first central shaft, and the wire-shaped body is wound on the periphery of each second central shaft in an interlaced manner.
 5. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 4, wherein the rotary member has a first rotary body and two second rotary bodies, the first rotary body takes the first central shaft as a geometric center and rotates about the first central shaft, and the two second rotary bodies respectively take the second central shafts as geometric centers and are separately arranged at an axial end surface of the first rotary body.
 6. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 5, wherein the two second rotary bodies rotate about the two second central shafts respectively.
 7. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the winding mechanism further comprises an elastic member, and one end of the elastic member is connected to the rotary member.
 8. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the virtual reference point is located on the winding mechanism.
 9. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the virtual reference point is located on the fixed seat.
 10. The motion platform having a wire-shaped body winding mechanism of claim 1, wherein the wire-shaped body is a cable, wire, optical fiber, gas pipe, water pipe or oil pipe. 